Willingness to pay for environmentally linked clothing at an event: visibility, environmental certification, and level of environmental concern

Determining actual purchase behaviour from willingness to pay: examining the sale of ethical cotton T-shirts within a festival context

“…Simultaneously, festival organizers can gain a better understanding of consumer preferences and merchandising capabilities (Dodds et al, 2016). Understanding how much of a premium attendees will pay for socially and environmentally responsible t-shirts may also help to increase profits in future years, as well as contribute to Mariposa Folk Festivals' environmental commitment.…”

“…These concepts will provide context for the current study, which explores consumer purchase behaviour, in regards to ethical clothing, within a festival setting. The reason a festival was chosen as an ideal research venue is because festivals can act as platforms to effectively address environmental issues and encourage ethical consumer behaviours; as one can communicate messages of social and environmental responsibility to a large number of individuals simultaneously (Laing and Frost, 2010;Mair and Laing, 2012;Dodds et al, 2016). Previous research also indicates that encouraging ethical consumer behaviour within a festival setting, or attending a festival with an environmental focus, may result in increased environmental awareness and result in consumers engaging in more ethical behaviour outside of the event (Laing and Mair, 2013).…”

“…One potential means of encouraging ethical consumer behaviour at festivals is through the sale of socially and environmentally responsible festival clothing. The sale of festival clothing is important to any event as festival clothing is a means of advertisement, is a significant source of revenue, and allows attendees to show their support for the festival (Dodds et al, 2016). The sale and purchase of ethical festival clothing, over conventional alternatives, is also a way for both attendees and festival organizers to demonstrate their environmental commitment.…”

“…The sale and purchase of ethical festival clothing, over conventional alternatives, is also a way for both attendees and festival organizers to demonstrate their environmental commitment. Dodds, Pitts, and Smith (2016) was the first study to examine this by means of surveying attendees of Mariposa Folk Festival, located in Orillia, Ontario, on their hypothetical willingness to pay (WTP) for ethical festival clothing. The researchers measured attendee's WTP for four different festival t-shirts that varied in regards to fair trade certification, visibility of fair trade certification, and environmental messaging.…”

“…The survey respondents in this study indicated they would be willing to pay the most for a festival t-shirt bearing both a visible environmental message and a fair trade certification. Dodds et al (2016) indicated that future studies can build on their research by employing "an experimental design to control intra-subject effects and the use of actual clothing to measure behaviour rather than intent" (p.288). This provided an opportunity for the current study to further explore WTP for ethical festival clothing, by means of examining attendees' actual purchase behaviour and the motivations behind their purchase decisions.…”